Leadership Thought: How Can the New York Mets Turn Their Season Around?

06 Jun Leadership Thought: How Can the New York Mets Turn Their Season Around?

And How You Can Apply it to Your Business

The New York Mets have not been World Series Champions since 1986. So far, this year doesn’t look good either, though the team has one of the best pitching staffs in baseball and a great hitting core. In fact, the Mets were slated as one of the top contenders at the beginning of the season. These guys are young studs that can flat out play baseball. So, what gives? And what can be done about it?

The New York Mets can all play well individually, but aren’t holding together as a team. Their offense has been mushy of late, and their defense has been error-prone. It doesn’t help that much of their lineup, including star players Noah Syndergaard, Yoenis Cespedes, and David Wright, are out with injuries. Recently, Matt Harvey skipped a game so he could go play golf and got suspended, taking yet another man out of play. They even had to fire their mascot! The Mets are seven games under .500 and there are no signs of improvement on the horizon. The team is a complete mess.

We are still very early in a very long season—baseball is more of a marathon than a sprint, and there is plenty of time for a team to fix mistakes. Injured players will recover, and Harvey will also return to play (and will hopefully stop causing so much drama). Whether the team will get it together and play to their potential is another question.

In business, as in baseball, struggle is inevitable. Players get injured or have off days. Deals fall through, and projects suffer setbacks. A strong team, or a strong company, can get through it. What creates this strength? Leadership.

So where does the turnaround start? It starts from the leaders.

A good leader can figure out how to reorganize the team so as to improve teamwork, resolve problems (such as a lack of runs scored), and motivate everyone to come together and rise to their potential.

Think about this for your business, even if you do not currently have a formal leadership position. When times are getting tough, who brings the team together? If you cannot think of anybody, perhaps it’s time for you to step up.